352 RETIREMENT CHAP, xi 



daughter was again ordered abroad for the winter, and 

 as Sir Andrew had such a love of mountains, it was 

 determined to move the whole family to St. Moritz. 



In the early part of the season the place gave him 

 great pleasure, for he was able to take some fairly long 

 walks, and it was a delight to him to find himself once 

 more in the chain of the Alps. But in the middle of 

 November the snow came, not to depart for the rest 

 of the winter. Thereafter every walk involved a 

 slippery descent from the hotel and a slippery ascent 

 in returning. The consequent fatigue became so great 

 that his pedestrian excursions were necessarily limited. 

 Sledge-driving proved equally impracticable, for the 

 keen frosty air induced severe pain round the glass 

 eye. He was thus cooped up in the hotel, the most 

 practicable exercise available being obtained by pacing 

 up and down a covered verandah open to the air. 



By the end of March the party was glad to take 

 flight by the Maloja to Chiavenna, and thence by 

 steamer on the Lake of Como to Cadenabbia. Sir 

 Andrew enjoyed watching the pleasure which these 

 charming scenes gave to his daughters, who saw them 

 for the first time, and he seemed himself also to ap- 

 preciate their beauty ; but the confinement of the pre- 

 ceding winter had left its mark upon him. The old 

 spirit of happy comprehension of what he saw, and the 

 keen zest with which he scrutinised new physical 

 features and sought to interpret them, were now only 

 too visibly on the wane. The route homeward in- 

 cluded a halt of a fortnight at Venice, which he 

 thoroughly enjoyed, and another for the same length 

 of time at Pallanza, which also gave him much 

 pleasure. 



The family returned to England in time to spend 



